Confession. I have a really hard time worshiping. Long story short, contemporary worship seems to sappy, vapid, melodramatic. Hymns are much more satisfying intellectually but don’t stir the heart as much. Both “styles” sometimes make it difficult for me to focus my attention and adoration towards God.

That said, I really want to read _The Message in the Music: Studying Contemporary Praise and Worship_ – it’s a collection of essays on the current state of worship edited by Richard J. Mouw, Robert Woods, and Brian Walrath.

Found that book (and many other excellent reads) at the Hearts and Minds bookstore blog:

The store is run by a guy named Byron Borger and his store is more about cultivating excellence in the christian community through well written books than it is about just selling the latest christian bestsellers – back in October he blogged about two popular titles by two big name christian authors (Swindodoll and Lucado) that he was sending back to the publisher because he felt that both their books mishandled scripture.

“We sell Chuck and Max, and will continue to be glad that fine Christian leaders like them can handle words so well, and inspire us with books of basic Christian growth. But I have recommitted myself to be discerning of the wrong-headed and misguided stuff that the big evangelical publishers push. I want to glorify God by selling books that talk about His sovereign grace over all things. I want books that honor the complexity and nuance of this rowdy and demanding book called the Bible. And I want to hear about social justice and I want to hear about the ways in which God’s atoning death brings wholeness and restoration to all of creation. . . .I will be sending the books back, with a firm letter of protest to [their publisher] Nelson.”

Highly recommend his bookstore website and no, I don’t get a kickback on referrals.

i may re-read brothers k (davis james duncan). it’s absolutely my favorite. otherwise, i definitely want to read people’s history of the united states.

i like your idea about reading 12 books this year…i guess 1 book a month? i have the same tendancy to pick up a bunch of books at once and try to read them all at the same time like i’m still a student or something.

Im really excited about what I get to read for school (what a geek, I know…) But outside of school books, I want to read “Discipleship of Equals” by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza – mostly because you cant talk about feminist theology without running into her ideas, and I want to read what she says for myself.

Oh man, I have such a huge list that’s been accumulating… I think my top three to finish this year are “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” by Annie Dillard, “Orthodoxy” by G.K. Chesterton, and I promised a friend a number of years ago I’d read “Revolution in World Missions” by K.P. Yohannan.

I keep hearing from different circles that Peter Rollins’ book “How [Not] to Speak of God” is a great book, so this is one i think I must read. I just began reading “Cross Cultural Servanthood-Serving the World in Christlike Humility” by Duane Elmer and so far it is encouraging and full of wisdom.

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.” (Steve Jobs, on the Kindle, interview with the NYT (15 Jan 08).

The part about (whole) books may well be accurate, but if anything, the web seems to give people more fragments to read than ever before. And what are all those bookstores doing? Selling coffee table decorations?

I have several:
The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)
Irresistible Revolution (Shane Claiborne)
How (not) to Speak of God (Peter Rollins)
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Ishmael Beah)
Girl Soldier (Grace Akallo)

i am so glad you shared about your reading habits, i thought i was the only one that reads multiple books at a time without finishing any of them! ok, you’ve given me inspiration to really try hard to finish the books I start. I’m going through the “Ancient Future Faith” and “Time” now as well as “The Safest Place on Earth” (L.Crabb)… I have “Eat This Book” (E.Peterson) on deck, staring at me, beckoning me to open it up!

last year, in terms of overtly spiritual/church-related stuff, stuff I read that I would recommend to anyone reading:
Life of the Beloved- Nouwen
Markings- Dag Hammarskjold
Democracy Matters- Cornel West
The Long Loneliness- Dorothy Day
Take This Bread- Sara Miles
Relevant Nation
Believers: A Journey into Evangelical Christianity
Righteous- Lauren Sandler